Truly a memorable and emotional game.
A statement about the 1948 Cleveland Indians reminded me about something.
Lou Boudreau did it all in baseball—he played, managed, and broadcast. He was an excellent defensive shortstop and a punchy hitter. After one game in 1938 and 53 games in 1939, Boudreau became the Indians regular shortstop in 1940, hitting .295, driving in 101 runs, and leading the AL in fielding percentage for the first of ten consecutive seasons.
In 1942, the Indians shocked the baseball world by hiring their 24-year-old shortstop as a player-manager. Boudreau would continue in that role through 1950.
Few players (or managers) ever had a better season than Boudreau did in 1948. “That year, Lou Boudreau was the greatest shortstop and leader I have ever seen,” said Hall-of-Famer Bill McKechnie, a coach with the club. The Indians went 97-58, while Boudreau hit .355 with 106 rbi, a career-high 18 home runs, and struck out only 9 times in 560 at-bats.
The Indians and the Red Sox finished the regular season tied, necessitating a one-game playoff at Fenway Park, in which Boudreau went 4 for 4—homering twice. The Indians went on to beat the Braves in the World Series, and Boudreau picked up the AL Most Valuable Player Award.
A movie about his baseball career would not need a bit of embellishment.
Great story Carl. I remember seeing his name before but never knew this incredible story.
Was he the youngest manager ever?
Was he the youngest manager ever? Technically, yes … for the modern era.
https://tht.fangraphs.com/tht-annual-2018/the-youngest-managers-in-major-league-history/
In baseball’s early days, player-managers, who would presumably be around the same age as (if not younger than) many of their teammates, were very common. This made for some quite young managers, many of whom were in their 20s. Hall of Famer John Ward served as player-manager for the Providence Grays at the age of 20 in 1880; the lesser-known John Clapp was also a player-manager at age 20, for the Middletown Mansfields of the National Association. These two would, technically, be the youngest managers in baseball history.
In the latter half of the 20th century, the youngest age of any non-playing manager was 33 years old (though Boudreau, still serving as player-manager in 1950, was 32 at the start of that season). The last player-manager, in case you forgot (or just aren’t old enough to have known in the first place) was famously Pete Rose, who managed the Reds while playing at age 43 in 1984.
Actually I do remember Rose managing the Reds but wasn't sure on the years. This is great discussion.
Detroit was an AL team, so I didn't follow the NL Reds quite as close but the Big Red Machine was a big deal in MLB in those days, especially when manager Sparky Anderson was leading them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparky_Anderson
When Sparky became the skipper for the Detroit Tigers, he became a Motown favorite when winning the world series in 1984, interestingly, the same year that Pete Rose started managing the Reds(though there were managers between them).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Rose
I'm going to start another thread asking the question about Pete Rose, that you know is coming.